The only things conspicuously absent were personal mementos. No pictures. No little gifts. Nothing to suggest he had anyone that he gave two shits about.
Not that I expected there to be. Cosimo Cavazzo had married young, as expected. After all, an heir was necessary as early as possible to ensure the bloodline continued, he had told me once. That lesson had come after a few too many whiskeys, the only time that Cosimo had given me a glimpse into his personal life.
His bride had been picked out by his father, and he had done his duty, gotten her pregnant almost immediately. Lust turned into love, and Cosimo admitted that he grew fond of his new wife, happy with the son she was carrying that would be part of his future.
But like most Mafias, the rest of his story was full of pain and blood. His wife, weeks before she was due to give birth, was kidnapped and murdered by his enemies. As a final insult, they even carved Cosimo’s unborn child from her belly and cut him up into seven pieces.
Cosimo personally hunted each and every person that had been involved and made them pay for taking away his slice of happiness.
He never married again. A wife was a weakness that he couldn’t afford anymore. He welcomed death like an old friend: a chance to reunite with his beloved and his unborn son.
And he left me here with no fucking clue on what to do.
I rounded the desk, sat in the familiar leather chair, and stared at the door. The fool made me Don. He placed me in a position of power that I knew not how to wield. Now, the entire Mafia was in an uproar at what the old fucker had done.
He had claimed in his last words that I was ready for this, that I was the only one worthy of inheriting his empire. If it hadn’t been for the will he had also drafted, no one would have believed his dying words.
And now it was a reality.
Cosimo was really gone, and his capos waited to pay respects to their new Don.
“Why did you do this to me?” I whispered into the empty room. I swore I could hear him chuckling in response. I had muttered those words to myself more than once over the past few days. What on earth had the old man been thinking?
A debt owed, he claimed.
This was the worst thing that could’ve happened to me.
As an enforcer, I could see my enemy coming. Things were easy. But now, I had to read men who hid daggers in their smiles.
I pushed myself out of the chair and straightened my suit coat. I was the new Don of the Cavazzo Mafia. I would address the capos and make my plans for the future.
But I would never live up to their standards. I already knew that. Whatever shit Cosimo thought I could overcome wasn’t going to happen. I wasn’t him, and they would be reminding me of that until my very last breath.
A cool mask of indifference slid over me, and I clenched my jaw as I walked to the door. It didn’t matter. I was going to show them that they meant nothing to me.
No one did.
Chapter 33
Lucas
Present Day
I released the railing and clenched my hands into fists instead. I hated and cared for the man at the same time. My greatest tormentor and my only benefactor. He gave me his world, and provided me with the opportunity to rain holy terror on everyone if I so chose.
I had an influx of cash, properties, and connections all over the world.
But I was alone.
The thought hit me more than I cared to admit it. I had a core group of capos thatdidfollow me, those that wanted to continue the work regardless of who was the Don. They believed that I was going to make this Mafia the top dog now that D’Agostino’s reign had ended.
And then there were the doubters, dissenters like Adrian who refused to believe that Cosimo would ever hand his entire empire over to me.
Even after I grew his millions.
Even after I stole lucrative contracts away from other Dons and left my men richer than before.
Eve after I eliminated any potential competition along the way, and built an even larger empire than had been Cosimo’s vision.